Monitoring streaming media content

Abstract

Example apparatus disclosed herein are to send a request to a media provider that is to cause the media provider to initiate transmission of a transport stream that is to provide streaming media to a media presentation device. Disclosed example apparatus are also to extract metering metadata from a data file to be received by the media presentation device after the transmission of the transport stream is initiated by the media provider but before receipt by the media presentation device of the transport stream that is to provide the streaming media to the media presentation device, the data file associated with the transport stream. Disclosed example apparatus are further to report the metering metadata to a server in response to a detected event, and access an identification of secondary media responsive to the report of the metering metadata, the secondary media to be presented by the media presentation device.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A media presentation device comprising:
 at least one processor; and   memory having stored therein computer readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the media presentation device to perform a set of operations comprising:
 sending a request to a media provider to initiate transmission of a transport stream for streaming media to the media presentation device; 
 while the media presentation device receives the transport stream responsive to the request and, based on the transport stream, plays out the streaming media, detecting, within the transport stream, metering metadata that identifies the streaming media; and 
 transmitting, via a network, the metering metadata to an audience measurement server, wherein the audience measurement server is configured to use the metering metadata to identify the streaming media. 
   
     
     
         2 . The media presentation device of  claim 1 , wherein before the media presentation device receives the transport stream, the metering metadata is converted from a first format to a second format, different from the first format and inserted into one or more data fields of the transport stream. 
     
     
         3 . The media presentation device of  claim 2 , wherein the first format is a format that is not decodable by the media presentation device, and wherein the second format is a format that is decodable by the media presentation device. 
     
     
         4 . The media presentation device of  claim 2 , wherein detecting the metering metadata within the transport stream comprises extracting the metering metadata from the one or more data fields. 
     
     
         5 . The media presentation device of  claim 2 , wherein the first format comprises one or more of an audio watermark or a video watermark. 
     
     
         6 . The media presentation device of  claim 5 , wherein the second format comprises an ID3 tag. 
     
     
         7 . The media presentation device of  claim 1 , the set of operations further comprising:
 obtaining additional metering metadata from a signature generated from the streaming media; and   transmitting, via the network, the additional metering metadata to the audience measurement server.   
     
     
         8 . The media presentation device of  claim 1 , the set of operations further comprising:
 determining one or more playback indicators indicative of playback of the streaming media on the media presentation device; and   transmitting, via the network, the one or more playback indicators to the audience measurement server.   wherein the one or more playback indicators includes an indication that playback of the streaming media on the media presentation device is paused.   
     
     
         9 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a media presentation device, cause performance of a set of operations comprising:
 sending a request to a media provider to initiate transmission of a transport stream for streaming media to the media presentation device;   while the media presentation device receives the transport stream responsive to the request and, based on the transport stream, plays out the streaming media, detecting, within the transport stream, metering metadata that identifies the streaming media; and   transmitting, via a network, the metering metadata to an audience measurement server, wherein the audience measurement server is configured to use the metering metadata to identify the streaming media.   
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 9 , wherein detecting the metering metadata within the transport stream comprises extracting the metering metadata from one or more data fields of the transport stream. 
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 10 , wherein before the media presentation device receives the transport stream, the metering metadata is converted from a first format to a second format, different from the first format and inserted into the one or more data fields of the transport stream. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the first format is a format that is not decodable by the media presentation device, and wherein the second format is a format that is decodable by the media presentation device. 
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the first format comprises one or more of an audio watermark or a video watermark, and wherein the second format comprises an ID3 tag. 
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 10 , the set of operations further comprising:
 obtaining additional metering metadata from a signature generated from the streaming media; and   transmitting, via the network, the additional metering metadata to the audience measurement server.   
     
     
         15 . A method performed by a media presentation device comprising at least one processor and memory, the method comprising:
 sending a request to a media provider to initiate transmission of a transport stream for streaming media to the media presentation device;   while the media presentation device receives the transport stream responsive to the request and, based on the transport stream, plays out the streaming media, detecting, within the transport stream, metering metadata that identifies the streaming media; and   transmitting, via a network, the metering metadata to an audience measurement server, wherein the audience measurement server is configured to use the metering metadata to identify the streaming media.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein detecting the metering metadata within the transport stream comprises extracting the metering metadata from one or more data fields of the transport stream. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein before the media presentation device receives the transport stream, the metering metadata is (i) converted from a first format that is not decodable by the media presentation device to a second format that is decodable by the media presentation device and (ii) inserted into the one or more data fields of the transport stream. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the first format comprises one or more of an audio watermark or a video watermark. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the second format comprises an ID3 tag. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 obtaining additional metering metadata from a signature generated from the streaming media; and   transmitting, via the network, the additional metering metadata to the audience measurement server.